Loblaw dividend rises on falling costs

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $76 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 398.4 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,096 supermarkets across Canada. It also owns the Shoppers Drug Mart chain of 1,324 drugstores. The company just raised its quarterly dividend by 3.8%. Starting with the July 2017 payment, investors will receive $0.27 a share, up from $0.26. The new annual rate of $1.08 yields 1.4%. Meantime, Loblaw continues to gain from lower operating costs following its March 2014 purchase of Shoppers Drug Mart. Earnings in the first quarter of 2017 rose 7.7%, to $364 million from $338 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 9.8%, to $0.90 from $0.82, on fewer shares outstanding. Due to lower food prices, the company’s sales in the quarter rose just 0.2%, to $10.40 billion from $10.38 billion a year earlier. Loblaw is a buy. buy…